On Sunday, March 12th we held the formal installation of the new Parish Committee with breakfast after Holy Mass. Congratulations to our new Committee and a special thank you to all who served last year.
Installation of Parish Committee Read More »
The story of the Fall, which we heard in today’s 1st reading, endlessly fascinates us because it is also the story of Everyman and Everywoman, of each one of us. We are like our first Adam and Eva, who chose to go against God and to be satisfied by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The effects of sin bring about the downfall of others. The result are disastrous; the relationship with God is broken, their own relationship is damaged and they feel shame. They find it hard to look at each other, and will need to work for their living and experience the suffering of hard labor and toil. Remarkably God doesn’t not forget them and is abundant to them because God wants them to find a way back into God’s love. God is always planting new seeds in our hearts. The Lord forgives us when we return to Him in the sacrament of reconciliation and our hearts are cleansed.
Lent is about the expansion of the heart so that it becomes more loving and generous. First, prayer opens the heart and helps us to listen to God’s word. Second, the invitation to fast expands our hearts so that we become more aware of the ways that we so often focus on satisfying our own needs and desires rather than being willing to open our hearts to our neighbor. Fasting can make us more grateful for what we have received and more generous to others in their need. Third, we can develop our Lenten exercises by giving to others, especially through almsgiving and charitable works. By the end of Lent, with plenty of exercise, our spiritual heart will be in better shape and more ready to resist temptation and place its trust in God.
I Sunday of Lent (“A”) – March 5, 2017 Read More »
Many people live very stressful, busy rushing from place to place, trying to make ends meet and worrying about the future. There are many things to worry us if we let them, genuine concerns over health, housing, hope for the future – all these things are real enough and can bear heavily upon us. The Lord is aware of these issues of anxiety and He does not take them lightly. He addresses them directly. We worry about food for the table and clothes for our children and a roof over our head and security for our future. Life is about these things, but as the Lord reminds us today life is also about much more than these things. Life is about where you set your heart. If your heart is centered in the right place, if you focus your energies on right living and on God’s honest truth, then worry will fade away. Our place in the world is to be the children of God and to live according to the spirit of God’s kingdom. When that happens the power of worry fades and faith grows strong. The issues of life are always there for us but now they no longer loom over us as a threat or dark cloud. We will negotiate life on God’s terms, and God’s ways are peace.
Quinquagesima Sunday (“A”) – February 26, 2017 Read More »
In the Sermon on the Mount, which has formed our Gospel readings over the last few Sunday’s, Jesus is explaining what the Beatitudes mean in practice.
When faced with words such as “holiness” or “perfection”, our first reaction may be to distance ourselves from them. Such terms belong to saints. They don’t come into the orbit of our everyday world. It is true that we are not required to live at these heights every moment. Jesus asks us to consider that, if we are His true followers, we all have the potential to respond at this level. We can all follow in His footsteps. The times when we are asked to give ourselves so utterly are few and far between. But we prepare ourselves for such challenges by the way we live through the day-to-day moments of our lives.
Sexagesima Sunday (“A”) – February 19, 2017 Read More »
The character that emerges from the Gospels is both gentle and strong, peaceable and forthright, calm and courageous. Never in His dealings does Jesus act in a violent manner, nor does He say things to provoke people to riot or revolt. Yet His every word is challenging and demanding. His call asks for nothing else than everything by way of commitment to Him. In His words that we hear today, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will not settle for outward observance or superficial fulfillment of God’s commandments. It is not enough not to kill your enemy; you must seek actively to be at peace with the enemy. It is not enough to avoid adultery; you must live a sexually honest life. It is not enough to avoid the big sins; all sins are damaging. There is no need to swear oaths; just use honest and straightforward speech. These are the deep roots of true life, of good life, and nothing less will do, says the Lord. The great wisdom that we are asked to learn calls us to love one another.
Septugesima Sunday (“A”) – February 12, 2017 Read More »
Reading the prophet Isaiah, we find that when God enlightens our mind and heart, we begin to see things differently. We discover our responsibility for the life and welfare of others, especially those who are poor and oppressed. Enlightened by grace, we are moved to share our bread with those who are hungry, care for those who are homeless and oppressed; when we do this, we bring light and hope into the darkness of their lives. By the light of God’s grace, we see and we are seen. In the Gospel, Jesus lets His disciples know that He hasn’t shared the light of His love with them so that they can keep it to themselves. He wants His light to shine in them and through them for all the world to see.
When we think about all the issues that face our world today, we can be overwhelmed and wonder how we can possibly make a difference. The lives of millions of people across the globe have been disrupted by war and violence. Wherever we look, the darkness is closing around us. We need a light to help us navigate through this hopeless prospect. Jesus has enlightened us with a Gospel of love. He has sent us to bring the light of His love to others. With the light of Christ, we ourselves can see and we will be seen helping the world to avoid the greatest catastrophe of self-destruction.
V Sunday in Ordinary Time (“A”) – February 5, 2017 Read More »
The Gospel gives a summary of Jesus’ activity. He preaches in synagogues, He heals sick people; this does begin to sound like Good News for those involved. Today’s passage consists of the most familiar of all Gospel text, covering a surprising range from ordinary Sundays and weekdays to major seasons, from funerals to weddings, and on a variety of commemorations, sacramental ceremonies and saints’ days. The one who proclaims the Good News assumes the guise of an authoritative teacher. In New Testament times, teachers simply sat down in an open space and began to teach. In the Beatitudes, Jesus makes plain what the Good News consists of: it is the possession of the list: the kingdom of heaven.
The Good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus turned word into action when He cured sick people, cleansed lepers, forgave sinners; that is when He made the words of Beatitudes a concrete reality for those whose lives were broken. In Jesus’ final sermon in Matthew, in the last judgment parable, He tells His followers that whatever they behaved towards the least of His brothers and sisters is the way they behaved to Christ himself.
IV Sunday in Ordinary Time (“A”) – January 29, 2017 Read More »
Everything that the Lord does has relevance for our salvation. The very act of casting nets and gathering in speaks of the role of the apostle. Our Lord is also sanctifying the work of the disciples, and, on a practical level, He is choosing men who were physically tough, used to dealing with sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee.
Whatever our line of work, whatever our skills we have, whatever talents we have, we can recognize them, first of all, as gifts of God. These are, at the same time, our own works and our own gifts and talents.
When we see Jesus choosing the humble Galilean fishermen, and the despised tax collector Matthew, we can be encouraged that all of us have a part to play in building up the kingdom of God. God loves everything God has created, and holds it lovingly in being. God also gives the great privilege of sharing in God’s own redeeming power.
III Sunday in Ordinary Time (“A”) – January 22, 2017 Read More »
The baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, which John the Baptist speaks of to his followers in today’s Gospel, was a moment when the world was changed for ever. Elsewhere the Gospels tell us that John the Baptist didn’t think it was necessary – or even appropriate – for him to baptize Jesus, who was more powerful than himself. John’s baptism required confession of sins and Jesus was without sin. Jesus was baptized in solidarity with the people, taking on the life of the people for the purpose of redemption.
As followers of Christ we share in the baptism of Jesus, the ministry of Christ, the death and the resurrection of Christ. That means that, just as God said to Jesus, “You are my beloved,” God says to each one of us, “You are my beloved.” This is amazing. God loves us and affirms us. God has chosen us too. What does all this mean for the world? God loves each one of us personally, individually and globally with an unconditional love. So if each one of us is a beloved son or daughter of God, like Jesus, that means each one of us is the beloved brother and sister of all God’s children, which means every human being on the planet is our beloved sister or brother, whether a child playing somewhere in China, or a woman making breakfast in Brazil, or a goat herder in the Sudan, or a family in the Philippines, or children in Iraq. Everyone is our sister or brother, so we are called never to hurt anyone. We are God’s beloved, so like Jesus, we are called to treat one another as God’s beloved. Life is good and precious and wonderful, so why waste it on negativity, resentment and cruelty?
II Sunday in Ordinary Time (“A”) – January 15, 2017 Read More »
Baptism leaves no visible marks. It is impossible to tell if someone has been baptized, just by looking at that person. This makes baptism a social sacrament. To be baptized and to keep our memory of baptism alive, we are called to keep the life of the Church alive in us. We keep records of baptism, in books and on certificates, but it is more important to be living the life of a baptized person. We are called to make our baptism visible not just to other people but to ourselves, by the way we live our life. After His baptism, Jesus went off to pray alone in the desert, but this was to prepare for the life lived for others, which He was now to begin. The temptations that He was to endure from Satan show this, as they are temptations to force the kingdom of God on humanity by power. Instead Christ calls each human being to an intimate sharing with Him in His work of redemption. How do we answer that call?
Baptism of the Lord (“A”) – January 8, 2017 Read More »